Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's Office of the President, said a new round of negotiations on ending the war with Russia could take place in early October. He made the statement during a meeting of the Yalta European Strategy forum in Kyiv, according to the Office of the President.
Among the main issues expected to come up are Black Sea shipping and a reduction in Russian strikes on civilian sites and critical infrastructure.
Budanov said a window currently exists for reaching a peace deal, but keeping that window open depends directly on the situation at the front and on pressure applied to Russia, including Ukrainian long-range strikes and sanctions.
He said everything depended on the situation on the battlefield, and that everything beyond it, including long-range strikes, sanctions and similar measures, was pushing Russia toward serious negotiations.
Budanov said Russia was already feeling the consequences of Ukrainian actions, pointing to strain in the Russian oil and gas sector and to what he described as serious problems Russia faces in the Black Sea.
He said the possibility of a new negotiating round meant the parties could move on to discussing concrete measures to lower the intensity of the war.
Russia's economic strain
Despite its economic difficulties, Budanov said, Russia still retains the ability to continue fighting, which is why sanctions and other pressure on Moscow need to be increased.
As examples of strain in the Russian economy, he cited the situation at the state-controlled bank VTB and a drop in the value of the energy giant Gazprom. He said Gazprom's market capitalisation had fallen from about $270 billion twenty years ago to roughly $30 billion now.
Diplomatic groundwork
To help prepare a joint position, Budanov met with national security advisers from Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, and held a separate meeting with the British delegation. He stressed that participation by both the United States and Europe was important to the negotiating process.
The Yalta European Strategy forum, founded by Ukrainian businessman Victor Pinchuk, is an annual conference held in Kyiv that brings together political leaders, diplomats and analysts to discuss Ukraine and wider international affairs.
Where the talks stand
The last full trilateral round of negotiations involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia took place in February 2026. Since then, the negotiating process has largely been on pause.
On September 5, the special envoys of the US president, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The following day, September 6, Witkoff and Kushner travelled to Kyiv for the first time since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The two visits were described as an attempt to revive the stalled peace process.
Doubts over the timing
Analyst Peter Dickinson has suggested the visits served the domestic political needs of both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ahead of elections this autumn. Russia is due to hold what are described as elections to the State Duma from September 18 to 20, while the United States holds midterm elections to Congress in November.
After his talks with Witkoff and Kushner, Zelensky said it currently looked like the war would continue through the winter.
In an interview with Axios, Zelensky said Ukraine wanted to use September and October to try to restore the diplomatic process.
